Improving the safety of heavy vehicles in South Africa through a performance-based standards (PBS)

approach to vehicle design

Dr Paul NordengenSmart Truck National Steering CommitteeHeavy Vehicle Transport Technology Africa

RTMS workshop25 May 2021

CONTENTS

▪ PBS approach to vehicle design

▪ PBS pilot project in South Africa

▪ Pilot project monitoring results

Key Elements in Road Freight

Transport

• Road infrastructure: roads,

bridges, roadside furniture, signs,

road markings, eToll gantries

• Vehicles: design, maintenance &

operation

• Drivers: skill, health, fatigue

4

PBS Pilot Project Objectives

Investigate the Performance-Based Standards

approach to heavy vehicles design and operations as

researched and implemented specifically in Australia,

Canada and New Zealand with a view to improving

heavy vehicles operations in South Africa through:

• Reduced road wear (per tonne.km)

• Reduced vehicle trips i.e.

• Reduced congestion

• Reduced safety exposure risk

• Improved safety performance

• Improved transport productivity

• Reduced emissions (per tonne.km)

5

PBS Developments

• EU Study

– Development of an optimised multimodal freight transport system (CEDR

Technical Report 2019-01)

• OECD Research

– Moving freight with Better Trucks (2011)

– High Capacity Transport: Towards Efficient, Safe & Sustainable Road

Freight (2019)

– Policies to Extend the Life of Road Assets (2019)

6

INFRASTRUCTURESAFETY

Ensuring safety and infrastructure protection

Prescriptive Legislation

7

INFRASTRUCTURESAFETY

Ensuring safety and infrastructure protection

PrescriptiveLegislation

8

Problem statement

9

Problem statement

10

Problem statement

11

Problem statement

12

Performance-Based Standards

Prescriptive Standards Performance-Based Standards

What the vehicle looks like What the vehicle can do

Governs mass and dimensions Governs actual on-road performance

Constrains productivity Allows heavier and/or larger vehicles

Constrains innovation Promotes innovation

Prescriptive Standards Performance-Based Standards

Images courtesy of the Australian National Transport Commission

13

Australian Performance Standards for heavy vehicles

14

Performance-Based Standards: Safety

Manoeuvre/Test Performance Standard

Low-speed 90° turn (5 km/h)

Low-speed swept pathTail swingFrontal swingSteer-tyre friction demand

High-speed lane-change (80 km/h)Rearward amplificationHigh-speed transient offtracking

Rollover Static rollover threshold

High-speed pulse steer (80 km/h) Yaw damping coefficient

High-speed on uneven road (90 km/h) Tracking ability on a straight path

Various (driveability standards)

StartabilityGradeability AGradeability BAcceleration Capability

15

Low-Speed Offtracking

16

Low-Speed Offtracking

17

High Speed Transient Offtracking

PBS Lane Change Manoeuvre (SAE J2179)

18

High Speed Transient Offtracking

baseline PBS

19

Rollover stability: Baseline (legal) vs PBS

20

Performance-Based Standards: Infrastructure

Pavement Vertical LoadingPavement Horizontal LoadingTyre Contact Pressure Distribution

Roads Bridges

Infrastructure

Bridge Loading

21

Road Wear Performance Standard

22

Structures Performance Standard

0

0,1

0,2

0,3

0,4

0,5

0,6

0,7

0,8

0,9

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

Ben

din

g M

om

ent

Load

Rat

io

Span Length (m)

2 Span Bridge: Max Negative Bending Moment Load Ratio (10% Baseline Overload)

Timber Logistics Services Baseline Vehicle with10% overload

Worst Performing Single Tandem Trailer Vehicle10%

Worst Performing Single Tridem Trailer Vehicle10%

Worst Performing B-Double Vehicle 10%

TLS PBS Vehicle

NBC PBS Vehicle

Unitrans Fuel Quad

SAB PBS Vehicle

23

Structures Performance Standard

24

ENVIRONMENT

INFRASTRUCTURESAFETY

Performance Based Standards

Heavy Vehicle Performance “Envelope”

Slide # 25

Road

Safety

Fair Competition

between modes &

operators

Infrastructure

Protection

OVERLOAD CONTROL

National Overload Control Strategy

Implemented by National, Provincial and Local

Authorities

Infrastructure & Equipment

• Main routes (major facilities)

• Alternative routes (minor facilities/screening)

• Monitoring (HS-WIM)

• Alternative weighing equipment

• Private weighbridges

Information sharing &

Public Awareness

• Overload website

• Overload information booklet

Operations

• Human Resources

• PPP

• Training

• Guideline document

for law enforcement

Self-regulation

• Road Transport

Management System

(RTMS)

• Performance-Based

Standards (PBS)

Legislation

• Consignors/Consignees

• 5% Tolerance

• User charges

• Habitual Overloaders

• Public Prosecutors

• Alternative weighing equipment

• AARTO

Co-operation

• Provinces

• Local authorities

• Department of Justice

• Private sector

26

PBS Pilot Project in South Africa

27

PBS Pilot Project in South Africa

28

Buhle Betfu Rigid drawbar

29

Timber Logistics Services Rigid drawbar

30

Mining side-tipper

31

SG Coal B-double

Unitrans

BAB Quad

33

Unitrans B-Triple vs BAB Quad

34

Rearward Amplification

Mining Road Train InvestigationsBaseline Vehicle PBS Vehicle

Dynamic simulation of a high payload vehicle in used on a private road (mining environment) • Simulations found this design to be unsafe

Demonstration of PBS and simulation software to find a safe solution

35

Unitrans A-double (Namibia)

36

Unitrans Fuel Quad

37

Fuel Quad Case Study

38

PBS Bi-articulated Bus

39

Car Carriers

40

Tail swing

Low-speed swept path

Frontal swing

Tail swing

LSSP

XY

DoM

FS

MoD

TS

Front corner (tractor)

Front corner (semitrailer)

Rear corner (semitrailer)

Inner edge (semitrailer)

Prescribed path

Rear overhang12.5 m

41

Tail swing

Vehicle type

Rear Overhang Tail Swing

Australia

ADR 43/04

South Africa

NRTR

Australia

PBS Level 1

South Africa

NRTR

Rigid truck 3.7 m 5.01 m 0.30 m 0.60 m

Semitrailer 3.7 m 6.32 m 0.30 m 0.87 m

Tag-trailer 3.7 m 7.00 m 0.30 m 1.25 m

• Existing car-carriers were shown to exhibit poor tail swing performance due to excessive rear overhangs.

• Tail swing of up to 710 mm was calculated (limit = 300 mm).

• This was shown to be a result of lenient rear overhang legislation.

De Saxe, C.C., Kienhöfer, F. & Nordengen, P.A., 2012. Tail swing performance of the South African car-carrier fleet. In 12th International Symposium on Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology. Stockholm.

42

SA Breweries PBS combination

43

Coca Cola PBS A-double

• Moving from the current baseline fleet to the 44 pallet PBS fleet will

result in a significant reduction in transport activity, with a direct

impact on reducing road congestion, improving road safety as well as

reducing environmental impact.

• First two PBS vehicles have started operating – FS & NC – Intensive

Management & Reporting

• Why PBS vehicles?

• Costs: Reduce Primary Distribution Costs

• Safety: PBS trailers have better turning angles, safety and road

wear performance than the current PD trailers

• Environmental: Reduced Carbon Emissions due to reduced

number of vehicles

• PBS vehicles will carry 44 pallets with a total length of 30 metres

44

Coca Cola A-double

45

Smart Truck Pilot Project: Impact

46

• PBS Benefits/Metrics Australia (2008 to

2019)

2.46 Mtof CO2 saved(2008-2019)

415 Mtruck km saved

in 2019

843 ML of fuel saved

(2008-2019)

10 385 PBS combinations

2 907combination

“saved”

0.6 Mt of CO2

savedin 20191.6 bn

truck km saved (2008-2019)

46% less major crashes per km

travelled

20% of new units were

PBS approved in

2019

Reduced number of trips

can lead to reduced road maintenance

Case Study - Australia

Brisbane Port, Australia

47

Smart Truck Pilot Project: Baseline vs PBS vehicles

13%

85%

2% 13%

28%

3%

56%

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4

Fail

PBS Baseline

48

Smart Truck Pilot Project: Baseline vehicles

73%

18%

9%

1 Failure 2 Failures 3 Failures

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

Static RolloverThreshold

RearwardAmplification

Yaw DampingCoefficient

Performance Standards

Number of PBS Failures Percentage of Baseline Vehicles Failing PBS assessment

Thank you